My first Sunday in PNG was Mother’s Day. For lunch several MAF families and I went to a special cheap buffet lunch at a hotel on the mountain outskirts of Mt Hagen. To get to this hotel, it is quite a drive up this mountain outside of town. To start with, it involves crossing a river at the bottom of the mountain. Across a wooden bridge cautiously that creaks, that has seen better days. The last couple to come to lunch, felt the bridge move laterally (side to side) as they crossed the bridge. They witnessed people moving planks of wood and repositioning them to get across.
We had a great time together and coming back down the mountain, our car was the first to leave. As we reached the bridge we came to a stop to visually check out the bridge. There were plenty of gaps in the bridge and planks missing, but it looked as safe to cross as it did previously. We started to roll over the bridge very slowly and cautiously. Before long the front of the car dropped suddenly through the bridge. My heart sank as I thought we were going straight through the bridge into the river, as one of the planks collapsed and shifted. But thankfully, the 4WD caught on several parts of structure of the bridge.
The four of us got out of the vehicle to inspect the damage done. There was quite a big gap between planks and the front of the 4WD had completely dropped. It seemed if we were to get the 4WD out safely, we might have to travel a fair distance to another bridge. Before I could get a photo of the incident, people started to appear from the other side of the river. Once this crowd had gathered, people started taking initiative on how to get the 4WD out. Even the more as other vehicles started to line up behind us.
The first attempt involved quite a few national men trying to lift the front of the vehicle enough, so it could be reversed out. But it would not go. Then it was said that more ‘bigger’ men will come. Before long, more guys turned up and on their second attempt, they were able to lift the front of the car up enough to reverse it out. Once the 4WD was out safely, there was no real damage to the vehicle.
Now came the challenge of getting back across the bridge. So planks were removed and laid across the gap to drive on. But his made the gap even bigger. As I watched the driver proceed carefully over narrow planks and heard the bridge creaking, I was glad I was not the one driving back across.
Now we were back across the river safely, we thought we would wait to see how the rest of the traffic goes. Behind us was a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) containing at least twenty people. Not one person got out of the PMV for it to cross the bridge. But yet the PMV slowly crossed the gap in the bridge on these few planks. After watching that, we returned to our vehicle and drove back to our various compounds. Leaving us with some action and adventure for a Sunday afternoon after lunch.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Wow… thats awesome Matt… glad that you were alright. You wouldn't get that kinda service from the locals around here!